As I am a Chicago architect and entered the competition I was asked to participate. I will be presenting my project titled Highway Reclamation/Racial Reconciliation. The event will be moderated by Greg Dreicer, Vice President of Exhibitions and Programs at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The show starts at 6 and is free and open to the public. Seating is limited so RSVP online.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Now in its 10th year, Design Corps presents this conference as a forum to present and discuss current architectural practices that are intended to reach a more diverse clientele.

From the announcement:

Structures for Inclusion 10 will be a tenth anniversary celebration hosted by Howard University on Saturday and Sunday, March 27 and 28, 2010. Three panels will discuss the theme: “Social Economic Environmental Design: SEED” and how to build on the success of the Green design movement in addressing critical social and economic issues through design.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Six carefully selected teams of up-and-coming designers from the Chicago area working in the field of architecture have been invited to take a ream of standard copy paper and render the banality of 500 sheets of paper into a thought-provoking and arresting temporary installation.

Carlo standing.

Some time contributor and full time reader David LeFevre is part of a team called Fold 500 (what a coincidence) that has an installation on display in the reamscapes exhibit. The reception is tonight, Friday, March 12th from 6-10pm and coincides with the Chicago Arts District monthly 2nd Fridays event in Pilsen.

Carlo observing.

Team Fold 500's Project Statement:

“This is not a plane” embraces the symbiotic relationship between the digital and the physical. The construct expresses one of the most primitive notions of the physical --the fold. Through the repetitive transformation of 500 sheets of paper into paper airplanes, one large gestural fold creates a spatial condition where the inherent dichotomy of the physical and digital interface.
In this installation, paper embodies, among other things, the physical manifestation of digital design, the uniqueness of the instance, and the joy of spontaneous human creativity through a physical reaction with the content -- scribble, tear, crumple. Fold.

And Bio:

Fold 500 is made up of Carlo Parente, David LeFevre, Jessica Hogue, Luis Palacio and Nathan Bowman --5 architects working together in the office of AS+GG who share a passion for digital technology, physical media, paper airplanes and Bloody Marys.

Carlo trying to get bad luck.

Bloody Marys? That explains the Project Statement. The show runs through April 3rd but the free wine is only available during the opening reception. See you there!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

This Saturday, March 13th, will be your last chance to view the exhibit Actions: What you can do with the City. The exhibit has landed here at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts after its debut at Montreal's Canadian Center for Architecture. Don't worry, the documentation is in English. Actually the exhibit consists of contributions, or "Actions", by artists, architects, designers, activists and others from all over the world.

The vast majority of the Actions work to make the city more humane, sometimes using grass-roots geurrilla urbanism such as activists dressed as city workers using a home-made stencil to paint bicycle symbols on heavily trafficked streets, thereby creating a bike lane. To balance out the exhibit, some actions actually work toward the opposite effect, anti-sitting Actions for example, placed on private property to prevent people from sitting on things. The photo below is an interesting dichotomy of the exhibit.

On the one hand, the Action works to overcome an anti-lying-down-device, the handrails along the bench, while the handrails, not part of the exhibit, work to prevent people from lying down. This resourceful individual's Action is not only functional but highly fashionable.

I found the exhibit entertaining, engaging and participatory. It's definitely something that generates a good amount of conversation afterward, such as, what to do with the exposed backs of street signs?

You only have four days left to see it and what better excuse than before and after a related lecture being held at The Graham Wednesday night (March 10th) at 6pm by Amy Franceschini called The Revolution Will Be Cultivated. Find out what she's all about here and here. Admission to both the exhibit and the lecture are free.

Monday, March 8, 2010

I posted previously about the Bridge Program as orchestrated by AIA Chicago Chapter. One of the groups that came out of the program is working with Growing Power and Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago on a structure to support their urban farming activities. Two alumni of the Bridge Program, Michael Burlando and Daniel Roush, went up to Growing Power's facilities in Milwaukee and Mike was nice enough to share his excellent photos and commentary from his trip here. If you want to get involved or are interested in learning more about this very interesting project, still in its nascent stages, there is a meeting this Thursday, March 11th at 6pm at AIACC's office.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

And finally, the last conference to be revisited is the CTBUH. With registration priced as high as $650, I'm happy to let you know all of the video recordings of the speakers are now available online - for free! Memorable presentations include:

Richard Tomasetti and the use of a boat simulator in Newfoundland to simulate the 18 second period of the Chicago Spire - the first time the simulator had been used for a building,

Monday, March 1, 2010

As winter begins to thaw and I emerge from my tradition of hibernation I've been bumping into more and more of you that read my blog. Thank you!

I was asked last week if I post consistently and while I try to get one out every week I don't have a rule that it will be every Monday, for example. But, you can subscribe. And you don't have to rss either. There's a link to the right that will ask you to add your email. That way you will know when I post by getting it in your inbox. Convenient, no?